Question - Gita Satsang - Chapter 6 : Verses 21-25

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sukhamatyantikam yattad buddhigrahyamatindriyam

vetti yatra na caivayam sthitascalati tattvatah Verse 21

> EXPERIENCE ALWAYS HAS AN END

> But nirvikalpa-samadhi has an end; it is something you come out of.

> All that is needed is for someone to drop something in front of you

or

> to start a vacuum-cleaner in the next house. As soon as you become

> aware of the sound, you are not only out of nirvikalpa-samadhi, you

> may be into anger as well! Why? This is because, nirvikalpa-samadhi

is

> something that does not last forever; you will come out of it in

time.

> And, once you are out of it, it becomes a past experience that you

> then talk to others about — `Swamiji, yesterday I had the most

> wonderful thing happen to me!' Even the language used to describe

the

> experience is different! But as soon as the thoughts come, or

someone

> begins hammering, or a child begins to cry, or a bug creeps up your

> leg, real or imagined, it is gone; you have come out of

> nirvikalpa-samadhi.

> There are those who will tell you that once you experience

> nirvikalpa-samadhi and you come out of that experience, the world

> will be different. They also say that you experience the atma in

> nirvikalpa-samadhi. How can this be? All that happened was that the

> knower-known-knowledge difference coalesced. All differences

> disappeared — a desirable experience, no doubt. It is

recognised by

> the intellect, it is buddhi-grahya, and is also beyond sense

> perception, atindriya. But how has this experience changed the

state

> of your vision? In fact, you may become very sad. Before you knew

> atma, you were only sad if you lost some money, some power, some

hair, or a relationship. Now, having known the atma, you have a new

item

> which can be lost and be a cause for sadness — yourself.

Previously,

> you lost certain things but retained yourself, but now you have

> experienced a much greater loss — the loss of yourself.

> Therefore, practitioners of samadhi may have a certain sadness

—

> sadness if samadhi does not come, sadness even when it comes,

because,

> it does not last. And even if it lasts for some time, there is

sadness

> because it ends. All that can be said is that I was eternal for

half

> an hour! For that period of time, the division between the knower,

> known, and knowledge that is usually there went away; time itself

went

> away. For half an hour you were free from time, which means you

were

> timeless, eternal. And, after half an hour, you become what?

> Non-eternal. Even if you have samadhi for two days, you become

> non-eternal. In this way, it is no different than being in a coma

for

> two days and then coming out of it. While in the coma, there was no

> division whatsoever and the person also did not know what was

> happening. Therefore, the length of time that one is in

> nirvikalpa-samadhi has no meaning.

 

Lord Krishna in the above verse about 'sukham atyantikam' talks

about Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the highest state of Yoga. Before I pose my

question, let me quote Sri Madhusudana Saraswati (considered an

Advaiti and Jnani par excellence). This is He says about 'sukham

atyantikam' (absolute bliss) in His Gudharta Deepika:

=== Quote from Gudharta Deepika ==================

 

 

It is not possible to describe orally that bliss which arises in

the mind that is totally freed from defects through samadhi and is

absorbed in the Self. This Bliss that is such is then intuited by the

internal organ (Maitryani Upanishad 6.34)

 

'By the internal organ' means 'by the mind in which all the

modifications have been totally restrained'.

>> labdhva, obtaining; yam, which-by acquiring which Self-attainment;

>> na > manyate, one does not think; that there is aparam, any other;

>> laabham, acquisition; tatah adhikam, superior to that;

 

When the Self is realized whatever has to be accomplished stands

accomplished, and whatever has to be acquired stands acquired. Hence

there is nothing higher than the relization of the Self

(Apastamba Dharma Sutras, 1.22.2)

 

=== Quote from Gudharta Deepika ends ==================

 

So here are my questions:

(1) When a spiritual aspirant acheives Nirvikapla Samadhi

 

(a) he experiences INFINITE BLISS and even the scriptures eulogise

the state as 'where words fail to describe' etc

(b) Coming down from that state he will even feel that the most

pleasurable of worldly activities is nothing but sheer torture

 

Given these how can he NOT BE a totally trasformed person by that

hugely uplifting experience?

 

(2) Long before the sadhaka achieves any time of Samadhi let alone

Nirvikalpa, he would have gone through phases in meditation like these

 

Deep meditation with very few distracting thoughts,

One pointed concentration,

loss of awareness of sound,

loss of awareness of body and surroundings,

Savikalpa Samadhi

 

In each stage, he would have experienced increasing Bliss or Joy and

would have the ability to sit in meditaion for hours.

 

AND even in the beginning stages the effects of meditation

(pleasantness,joy, inner tranquility) spill over well into the daily

activities long after meditation.

 

Nirvikalpa Samadhi is an experience that is BEYOND WORDS. So I doubt

such a advanced sadhaka would 'come down' by the sound of a vacuum

cleaner. And even if he did, the stunning experience will reverberate

for a long, long time.

 

If a aspirant can get Nirvikapla Samadhi I have read that he is so

advanced, all he has to do is steady that experience (make

it 'sahaja') and he becomes a fully realized person.

 

So I am not sure I agree with the commentary relegating Nirvikalpa

Samadhi to an 'experience that ends'.

 

 

Sundar Rajan